April 13 - The Denver City Council on Monday will consider putting a measure on the August primary ballot that would permit another cableTV company to compete with AT&T in the city.

A startup company, Wide Open West, plans to build a $160 million telecommunications system to compete with AT&T, the current cable franchise in Denver.

During a meeting of the Public Works and Amenities Committee on Wednesday, Dean Smits, Denver's director of telecommunications, said the proposed franchise would be similar to AT&T's franchise, providing for a 10-year term and five-year extension.

Today is the "drop dead" date for drafting a ballot question for the Aug. 8 primary, Smits said. After the first reading, the council will set hearings and then vote at a second reading after 30 days.

Unlike the AT&T franchise, Wide Open West would offer open access "on a nondiscriminatory basis" to competitors that want to use the new company's telecommunications facilities, Smits said.

While AT&T'S agreement requires it to provide some fiber-optic connections to certain city locations at cost, Wide Open West's agreement calls for it to provide fiber-optic links to all schools and to other sites chosen by the city at no cost, Smits said.

Additionally, Smits said, Wide Open West's board has passed a resolution committing $85 million to begin construction of the Denver system, and the firm's financial backers also have signed off on the initial amount.

Last month, several Public Works Committee members expressed concern that Wide Open West commit sufficient capital to the venture.

Committee Chairwoman Polly Flobeck said she worried about the streets being torn up repeatedly when competing telecommunications firms install lines and asked Smits if there had been "chaos" in cities that have had digging going on as competing cable systems are installed.

Smits said the agreement has provisions that call for restoration of property dug up to install the new system.

Flobeck said Wide Open West would offer "many of the same things" as AT&T, but would bring competition to the market.

"You know, that's what we like - competition," she said.

AT&T already has started installing a fiber-optic system in Denver that will handle data and also add several cable channels.

And Wide Open West would be offering "broadband" service, Flobeck said, which is "all on one wire. You'll have your TV, your computer - you can have your telephone on it. All that. And it will be faster."

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